The Dangerous Catacombs of Almia
by retroGrape
Summary: Serena, Bonnie, Clement and his new girlfriend Korrina find out Ash is trapped underground in a little known region called Almia. In their quest to save him, what surprises will they find? What friends or enemies will they meet? What else controls their world? AmourShipping, LaserBladeShipping
1. Dim Sun's Request

_**I don't own Pokémon, but maybe someday. In the mean time, I claim rights to the things I make up.**_

* * *

Serena, Bonnie, and Clemont weren't having an eventful day. They weren't planning on it, either. No encounters with Team Rocket or Team Flare or anyone else. They didn't need to battle any gyms. No one was in trouble. It was just boring. Plain old, Kalos boring. Ever since Ash had left to Alola, things were quieting down. Thanks to Bonnie, Clemont finally had a girlfriend, Korrina. And much to Bonnie's dismay, Serena had finally accepted Ash wasn't coming back.

Clemont's latest new invention, the Automatic Pokemon Weakener and Catcher, was finally done and going to be tested. Korrina doubted it could even catch a Pidgey, but was happy Clemont was so excited. They all went outside, and Clemont tested it on a Scatterbug. Korrina, Serena, and Bonnie stood by as the Scatterbug was scanned and then weakened, waiting for the explosion. Finally, much to everyone's surprise, the machine spurted out a Pokeball at it and the Scatterbug was caught with almost no resistance.

"Yes!" Clemont broke the silence with a loud cheer. "Yes! My machine finally worked!"

"Yes it did." Korrina replied with a grin, and gave Clemont a peck on the cheek as a reward. He blushed, and Bonnie laughed.

They went through the day in a good, almost auspicious mood. Quilladin learned Bulk Up, and Serena and Braixen successfully completed their practice performance for their upcoming Kalos Queen Competition. Then, at about six, Serena got a text from someone, with an accompanying ding!

 _hey this is ash u wanna come to almia for a bit? its cold, but i think everybody would like it. and i miss everyone. ill pick u guys up at the airport near clements gym and pay for the plane tickets._

Serena's heart went on overdrive. Ash? She could see Ash again? Also, what was Almia? Did he mean Alola? Just then she got another text.

 _btw, almia is pretty far away from alola, i was getting annoyed by the weird but cool pokemon forms. its great here tho. love u_

If she was on overdrive before, it was overheating now. _Love you? Really?_ She relayed what she got to everyone, and Bonnie was excited to see Ash again, but more so that Ash possibly loved her. They all packed up, and quickly made their way to the airport. Everyone was so eager to see Ash again, that no one noticed when Clement didn't complain about their speed once. When they got to the airport, they waited and waited for Ash, but he didn't come. Serena nervously checked her Pokegear to see if he had contacted them, and was shocked when she saw a text, clearly not Ash.

 _Ash and his Pokémon are being stored in the Almia Catacombs. You and your Pokémon will join us if you ever want to see him again. This is Team Dim Sun, and you cannot thwart us. The countdown starts now._

After that, she saw a countdown, saying 6:22:16:32 and decreasing second by second. She guessed that it meant she had less than seven days left, and so she told everyone else about it.

"Hey guys," she began,"I think Ash is in a lot of trouble."

* * *

Since this is the first chapter, I'm keeping it short. But, I am trying to get the future chapters at least four thousand words, maybe five thousand. What do you think? Who is Team Dim Sun? And what will happen to Ash?


	2. Friend Or Foe?

**Chapter 2: Friend or Foe?**

 **Hey guys! I soon realized 5000 words in a week was a little too much for me. I will try to have the chapters just under 3000 words. Also, whenever you see the ASCII Pikachu, it is a break in the text. The italics is texting or thinking. Happy reading!**

 **I don't own Pokémon. I just wish I did.**

* * *

"What?" A very confused Bonnie questioned.

Dedenne narrowed his eyes and cocked his head to one side. "De nenene ne? Dene?"

Serena showed them the text. "Very confusing." Clemont commented. "And who is this Team Dim Sun, anyways?"

Serena, concerned for Ash, examined the text. She found it very convincing. But, she concluded, it was a prank. Ash's flight probably got delayed or something, and so, since he was so dense, thought that this would be a funny joke. When he finally arrived, she would reprimand him. And be annoyed.

She texted back, _srsly? this isnt funny. i understand that the flight was delayed, but no need to take it so far. well be waiting for u._

Serena inwardly sighed, but thought it was a little funny. How could he expect us to believe that a little known team in this Almia place had captured him? Ash had been captured, but never for long. Even if he somehow was captured, he was out of their clutches. But, it was all just a prank. She informed everyone else.

"Don't worry guys, Ash was just playing a prank on us." She began. Korrina let out the breath of air that, up until then, she hadn't known she was holding. "Ash is on his way, so just sit tight!"

 _I hope._

A few minutes later, she heard the lady on the intercom say with a crackle, "Flight R154 and flight R256 have been delayed."

"That's it!" Bonnie exclaimed. "That's Ash's plane!" Then, with Clemont, she went up to gate H, the gate for flight R154 and asked the lady at the desk when it would arrive. She said that it would be here in about ten minutes.

Ten minutes was an agonizing amount of time to wait, at least for Serena who hadn't seen Ash for so long. Bonnie was, with amusement, watching Dedenne wrestling a stuffed Vivillion as Clemont and Korrina were sharing a footlong at Bellsprout's. As for Serena, she just anxiously waited at the gate, when she got a text from Ash on her digital Town Map which doubled as her Pokégear.

 _6:19:53:24_

 _Surrender or watch him suffer._

There was an attached picture of a pleading, gagged Ash with a weak Pikachu laying beside him. They were in a hanging metal cage, and there was a cement floor littered with glass below them. She noticed that, if they weren't careful, they could fall to their death below. There was also a big bottle of water hanging outside of the tank with a tube leading the ever-dripping water into their cage.

Serena stared at it for a little while, in shock, and then started crying. Ugly crying. She couldn't stand the thought of Ash, in a cage no less, and just felt like she should do something. She couldn't. With four waterfalls coming out of her face, she ran and dragged Clemont, Korrina, and Bonnie outside, all the way back to the place they were before they packed up and left. Then, she gave her Pokegear to Clement and immediately started sobbing.

Bonnie saw the texts and the picture, and also started crying. Clement saw it, and he just stared in shock. Korrina, once she saw it, was the only one with the incentive to call the airport and get four tickets to Almia, and no she didn't want a red eye tomorrow. She wanted them now.

After a few minutes of shock, everyone finally got up to go the airport. Once Serena saw the airport, through, she collapsed in a fit of sobs again and Clement had to use his Aipom Arm Backpack to carry her there. They got to their flight, flight R022, just as they were leaving. They wordlessly got on the plane and found their seats.

Clemont , Korrina, and Bonnie sat in a row on the left, with Korrina in the window seat next to Clemont. Serena was in the row next to them, all alone at the window. She stared blankly out, wishing that she could somehow save Ash. She knew, that at the best, she would only be captured.

She pulled out her Pokégear and tried to find a movie she had downloaded a few years ago but had never watched. She recalled it was about two Gardevoir, one was a vampire, in a "dangerous romance." Afterglow. That's what it was. She never got around to it the first time because she got the news that Ash was leaving. Ash, unbearably handsome, witty, but couldn't for the life of him recognize that she really, truly lo-

 _Serena! This is no time to be drooling over Ash! Just get to the… what is this?_

Serena had a little hidden compartment in the back of her Pokégear that she put her personal things in, like a Rhyhorn scale from the first Rhyhorn she rode, or the handkerchief Ash gave her all those years ago.

When it accidentally popped open, she almost jumped. A note slipped out, neatly folded. She wondered what that note was, maybe put in there from her mom? She hadn't used it in a while, so wouldn't have noticed it in there. She unfolded it.

Serena, it began.

This might be a little rushed, but I wrote this just after you kissed me on the escalator.

 _Could it be?!_

Over the past few weeks I've felt something for you. At first I thought I had eaten too much, but I noticed it always happened around you. I didn't know what it was, but I liked it, so I stayed around you. It kept growing stronger and stronger, until that one day in the airport. Then, it all made sense. It was love.

I love you, Serena.

Later, Serena woke up with a start. She sighed, thinking she had another dream about Ash. But then, she saw her Pokégear open and felt the slightly sweaty note in her hand, and knew it was real. She smiled and put the note in the secret compartment, and found the movie, Afterglow, and started it. It was amazingly horrible, so she turned it off and slept.

(๑● ․̫ ●๑)

Bonnie woke up with a start. She looked to her right, expecting to see Serena in her pink sleeping bag, but instead saw Serena in a red and gray airplane seat. She was confused, to say the least. Then, she remembered. They were on a plane to this Almia place to rescue Ash, and she felt a pang of sadness. But, she thought, we're gonna save him. And hopefully Ash won't be as dense as to think of Serena as just a friend this time, she added with humor.

She turned to her left and was about to shake Clemont awake, but saw him resting on Korrina, and thought better of it. Instead, she woke up Korrina.

"Hmm?" A groggy Korrina woke up. Bonnie quickly pointed to Clemont and signaled not to wake him up. Korrina gently moved his head to her lap.

"What's up?" Korrina asked.

"I'm bored. Do you wanna play a game me and Dedenne made up?"

"Sure." Korrina agreed. "How do you play?"

A few minutes later, they were trying to avoid being shocked by Dedenne in a game Bonnie called Electric Patterns. They had to put their fingers to Dedenne's whiskers, find the pattern Dedenne was using to shock them, and pull their finger away just before Dedenne shocked them. It was pretty fun, until they accidentally shocked Clemont awake.

Clemont got all sciencey with it, and was usually the first to guess the pattern. For example, he said that every time Dedenne said "De nenedene de ne", Dedenne would shock them three and a half seconds later, and even though that wasn't the pattern, he won since he pulled his hand away just in time. Then, Korrina had the genius idea for Clemont to make the patterns, but to make them super easy. They were still hard.

Fortunately, Dedenne soon had an idea for a good pattern, so he put it to use. But, it was so hard not even Clemont could get it. When Dedenne finally revealed the answer, he wrote that when he said apple, he would pause then shock everyone. Korrina complained that "only Ash can translate what Pokémon are saying."

"Wait!" Bonnie exclaimed. "What did you say?"

"Um," Korrina replied, "none of us can translate what Pokémon are saying except for Ash?"

"No, that wasn't it. What did you really say?"

"I think I said that only Ash can-"

"That's it! Clemont! Do you remember how Hoopa used to call Ash Ashkan? Korrina made me remember that and I just realized that maybe we could ask Hoopa to use her rings to get Ash back to us!"

"That's right!" Clemont concluded. He woke Serena up and told them what Bonnie realized, so she called Meray, Hoopa's trainer, and told her of their predicament. Mercy agreed, and she heard Hoopa excitedly saying, "Ashkan? Pikan? Yeeaaa!"

Hoopa's ring appeared in the seat next to Serena, and then Hoopa came through. Hoopa yelled back into the ring, "Don't worry! Hoopa will be safe!" Then the ring closed and Hoopa was sitting in the seat.

"Where is Ashkan?" Hoopa asked.

With a sad look on her face, she informed Hoopa that Ash was locked up in a cage hanging ten or twelve feet above a cement floor littered with broken glass. Hoopa instantly was mad and demanded to know who did this. Serena replied that it was Team Dim Sun. Hoopa quickly looked through her ring a succession of times, and slipped through the last time. Serena was just about to think something bad had happened to Hoopa, when she came back, slightly scorched.

"What happened?" Serena asked, concerned.

"When Hoopa found Team Dim Sun, Hoopa ran into a wall of invisible fire! Hoopa can't get in," Hoopa sadly said.

"I guess you should go back home," Serena concluded.

"But before Hoopa leaves, Hoopa would like to give you a present." And with that, Hoopa took off one of her earrings and gave it to Serena.

"But...but...it's your ring! I can't take that!" Serena exclaimed.

"Use it to call Hoopa if you are in trouble. Concentrate on the place in front of Hoopa while holding the ring, and Hoopa will come through." Hoopa ignored her complaint.

"Thank you, Hoopa," Serena gratefully said.

Hoopa took off her remaining earring, and slipped through it. Serena thought she could hear a cry of alarm from Hoopa, but she dismissed it as nothing.

The intercom fizzled, then the pilot said,"Welcome to Almia, home of the Rangers."

(๑● ․̫ ●๑)

They stepped off of the plane into the airport, and through the gigantic windows they could see the ocean in the distance. Bonnie's legs were all numb, so she made Clemont carry her. On the plane ride, Clemont found in his Pokégear a virus he had made a long time ago that infected other Pokégear. Aside from wondering why the heck he had coded any viruses in the past, all he was currently doing was editing the code to tell him the location of the sender of the text.

Serena, Bonnie, and Korrina were scouting out a good place to set up camp. They found a bus service not too far away, so they were able to ride most of the way, much to Clemont's relief. Korrina found a good spot, but they found that it was home to a family of Bidoof. Then, at one point, they thought they had lost Clemont, who was wholly involved in his virus, but they found that he had walked ahead into a big field.

That same field had a large cliff overlooking it, and they found a spot where there was less rain. There, they set up their tents, Serena's and Bonnie's Shellder tent and Clemont and Korrina's metal tent and Serena got out some ingredients for lasagna, since it was almost time for dinner. While she was looking for the lasagna noodles, she could swear she heard a tiny voice say, "Nun! Minunun," but when she looked up there was nothing.

As she got out her portable oven, she looked up and saw two odd Pichu with rounded ears and a pale yellow color. She also thought she saw that the spots on its cheeks were blue, but, she told herself, everyone knows that no Pichu have blue spots.

As she saw that the spots really were blue and there was a weird dash through it, it sprang towards her. She barely had time to react before it latched onto her head and started shocking it. She dropped to the ground, spasming uncontrollably, and then she felt a shock to the bridge of her nose.

Everything went black.

(๑● ․̫ ●๑)

Just to have fun with it, he wrote it all in binary. The whole thing. Clemont was proud of himself, even though writing the virus in binary was was kind of useless. Even the part that enabled it to reach into the Internet and inject itself into other Pokégear was in binary. Not that he'd need to use it, but still. It was great. One or twice, Bonnie came in and asked why the heck he was talking in zeroes and ones, and then she replied that he would probably reply in zeroes and ones. But for the most part, he was alone. Just him and his code. As he typed the end character, he let out a whoop of delight. He hadn't coded in so long, it seemed a little foreign to him. He reminded himself that he needed to learn AbraScript soon if he wanted to make these things they were calling applications for a PokéGear. But no matter.

He walked out of his tent and smelled the lasagna, the aroma of smoke and charred cheese making his mouth water, and told Bonnie and Korrina that he was done and so was dinner. Bonnie, Korrina, Dedenne, and Lucario came out of the tent, and almost immediately Lucario wrinkled his nose with a disapproving, "Cari, cario." Clemont was about to ask if Lucario didn't like lasagna when Bonnie complained, "Serena, I think you burned the...food?" Bonnie and Clemont looked to Serena.

Serena was gone, the only evidence of her being a burnt lasagna and a portable oven.

"No!" Bonnie cried. "They can't take Serena too! Lucario, see if you can track Serena!" Bonnie called to Lucario, who was one step ahead of her. Bonnie, Clemont, and Dedenne anxiously followed him. Lucario delicately entered the forest surrounding the clearing so to not disturb the scent he had, and followed the winding path the scent gave off. Meanwhile, Clemont was finding some things that Lucario might find useful, like a scrap of her skirt, and a piece of hair he found on a leaf.

Only a little ways into the forest, Lucario lost Serena's scent. Luckily, Korrina found a group of scared Shaymin who were able to tell them that two trainers and two Pokémon came through this spot, and that one of the trainers were being held by the other trainer and the Pokémon. Dedenne led them in the right direction, and Clemont followed at the back with his map, trying to find a plausible place for Team Dim Sun to keep Serena captive.

 _If I were in Team Dim Sun, where would I keep someone?_ Clemont thought. _If I remember correctly, the cage Ash and Pikachu were in was underground. They probably have a passage going underground where they would keep their captives. But, it wouldn't be too obvious, it would probably be a cave or something._ Clemont consulted his map. _Hey,_ he thought, _there's a cave near here!_

"Hey!" Clemont exclaimed. "We're traveling towards a big cave! Maybe Serena's there!" Everyone sped up until they were practically running. Clemont, meanwhile, was quickly falling behind. "Well," he panted, "time to test out the It Runs For You if You Can't machine." He plugged his suit into a motor, and turned the motor on. His pant legs started moving, and he started running. He was catching up with them when he realized his fatal mistake: there was no off switch. He kept running faster and faster, passing the group at lightning speed, and sprinting directly into a big metal door in the side of a cliff. His machine exploded, and a complementing bong! came from the door. Clemont imagined that whoever was in there probably knew they were there now. Eventually, Bonnie, Korrina, and Lucario caught up to him and found him amid bits and pieces of his failed machine. "Well," Bonnie remarked, "if it was supposed to get you somewhere very fast, it worked. If you were supposed to stop, that's a different story."

They all were laughing at Clemont's failed invention, so no one noticed when the door slid open on silent hinges. Inside, a girl about fifteen with blond, short hair and piercing green eyes waited. When they all stopped laughing, she said, "Hello. I am Rebecca."

* * *

 **Who is this Rebecca? Is she a friend or a foe? Next chapter coming out on Saturday.**


	3. Serena's Stories and an Unexpected Guest

Sorry about the delay! I wish I had an excuse, but I kinda...forgot. Heh heh...

I do not own Pokémon. If I did, I would probably give it to Nintendo to manage.

* * *

I woke up in a soft bed, not unlike my bed at home. I sat up, and then wondered why I was in a bed. _Shouldn't I be in a sleeping bag?_ I wondered. Then it all came back to me. The weird, discolored Pichu that had attacked me. Going unconscious. _Where am I?_ I frantically thought. Where is everyone else?

 _Am I dead?_

I found a note beside my bed saying that I was a little ways away from my campsite, and that breakfast was going to be ready soon. _I'm probably not dead, then, since I wouldn't have to wait for breakfast if I was dead._

The smell of blueberries, waffles, milk, and bacon wafted in through my door, hinting at a delicious way to start my day, hopefully a safe one. Sure enough, a girl with short blond hair and kind green eyes walked in, and seeing I was awake invited me to breakfast.

"Sorry about the disorienting trip here. Can I explain everything over breakfast?"

A few minutes later, I sat at a small, homey table enjoying blueberry waffles and bacon. Then, the girl started talking to me.

"Again, sorry that I had to bring you here without you knowing. My em- Dad wanted to … um … keep me safe from other … Pokémon that were hostile. I mean Trainers. Yeah, so I had to take you here while you were unconscious. And, unfortunately, they accidentally shocked you too hard." She said this all nervously, but strangely confident. "Oh," she remembered, "and I'm Rebecca."

I ate my waffle and washed it down with some milk and bacon while she introduced her Pokémon. She showed me her Pokémon, a Minun and a Plusle. I scanned them with my Pokédex and saw that they were brother and sister. She told me about how when she was really young, her brother ran away to join Team Dim Sun. She found his Pokémon, a Turtwig, a Shinx, and his starter, a Plusle. She released all of them, but the Plusle, no matter how hard she tried to push him away, Plusle kept coming back. She finally recaught Plusle, and him and his sister, Minun, are inseparable. At first, I was scared of them, since they had made me black out, but Rebecca told me I was safe. She then spouted some kind of some sciency gobbeldy-gook about a parietal lobe and VPNO neurons and that she only put me into an artificial sleep. I honestly didn't care, and was just glad I wasn't mentally damaged.

"Wait," I said as I realized something. "Why did you take me here in the first place?" I wasn't necessarily scared, since I knew she was a good person, but just curious.

She replied, "I needed to find out if you … were a person that my dad could trust, … and he wanted a video to make sure. Of you. Talking to me. So I had to take you just like that."

"Well, can I go back to my friends and tell them-"

"No!" She exclaimed. "I mean, if you go you will feel some residual effects of the shock, so I have to give you this … machine that is really big and bulky that you can't carry around at your camp to suck up the remaining electricity." She went up to her room and came back wheeling a big machine on a wheelchair. "Sit," she commanded as she latched the machine onto the back of my head, jerking it back.

"Ow!" I complained. "It's pulling my hair back!"

"Sorry," she apologised, and put up a headrest on the chair that I was certain wasn't there before.

"That's better," I replied, and could relax.

She showed me how to wheel around, and it was surprisingly easy and didn't require much physical effort. Then, I got a tour of the cave house.

First, she showed me her room, which was colored lots of different shades of purple. I chuckled when I saw a purple Vulpix with its tail over its face. Then, she showed me where the bathroom was, but only because it was right next to her Pokéball collection. I noticed a rare GS Ball and a Premier Ball with a blue stripe. Then, finally she showed me the game room.

It was huge, and had four seats in the middle that had little helmets on them. There were two that looked about the size of Minun and Plusle, and another two that looked like they could fit Rebecca and I. I stood, or rather sat, in shock.

"How did you afford all of this?" I asked incredulously. "This must have costed a ton!"

"Nah," she replied, "it was cheap. Do you want to try it?"

Rebecca detached the machine from my head and I sat in the purple, velvet chair. "Pull down the helmet," Rebecca instructed. I started to protest there wasn't one, but then I remembered that it pulled out of the back of the seat. I pulled it down and caught a glimpse of Rebecca looking … strained? I looked back and saw her getting in her seat, along with Plusle and Minun.

I pulled the helmet down, and was greeted by two screens. I felt strangely disoriented, and thought I saw a purple Vulpix, not unlike the one in Rebecca's bedroom. But then I saw Rebecca and her two Pokémon next to me, and I realized we were in a deep jungle. "This is Guyana, where the legendary Mew was found. I made this a little game, where you have to find as many Mew as possible, not real, of course, and bring them back to this area." As she said that, a beam of light shot out from a hole in the ground that had a stone ring around it.

 _I must be seeing things,_ I thought, _I could swear that that hole wasn't there before, and the helmet on the holochair, and the wheelchair headrest, but_

(๑● ․̫ ●๑)

Serena stopped recounting her experience in Rebecca's secret home. "Huh. That's odd, I can't remember what happened next." Serena said. "I remember what happened when you got here, but it's like a chunk of my memory disappeared."

"I'll finish the story from here," Rebecca said. By this time everyone had gotten back to camp, and Bonnie had moved everyone's sleeping bags outside.

"Why don't you tell us the story after dinner?" Bonnie suggested. "I'll get our extra sleeping bag."

A few minutes later, Bonnie had the sleeping bag out. "I don't know what happened to Serena, but I do know what happened to me. When I was running to find a Mew, I … um … "

Clement heard a small, tinkling voice and a haunting but sweet melody. _Maybe I could ask her to tell me the story again tomorrow,_ Clement thought. _I'm too tired to listen. But what was that voice?_

Everyone drifted into a deep, artificial sleep.

(๑● ․̫ ●๑)

 _Crap_ , I thought. Why in the name of Arceus did Team Dim Sun ask me to capture the rest of Ash's friends, too? I shouldn't be doing this. They forced me into this! I should st-

 _No. Team Dim Sun had kept my mom captive because she was caught snooping around their facility. She was also training to be a Ranger at the time, and Team Dim Sun couldn't risk having her reveal them to the authorities. Everyone thought that Kate and Kellyn and their Pachirisus had defeated the team, so they had to be careful while operating. That's why they had to hire me, or they might lose their secret. They also knew I would try to leave, so they threatened to kill Mom if I left. Team Dim Sun was so bad, they made Team Rocket seem like a children's charity. They were why Almia's missing Pokémon rate was way higher than any other, and missing people for that matter._

 _I just wish I didn't have anything to do with that rotten organization, I thought. I gazed at the stars and remembered something her mom had said, that she would always be with her. I had thought that Mom would then say something like 'I am in your heart,' or something sappy like that, but instead she had given me a radio with the Pokémon Ranger logo on it and said that she was always on channel four. But, every day since my mom's capture, I had gotten static on every channel._

 _I wish you could come back, Mom. I wish you had never been captured. I wish I had put my Munchlax in a Pokéball so you wouldn't have to find it. I wish . . ._

I cried for who knows how long. _Maybe Mom is dead already, and it doesn't matter if I capture them. Maybe she's still alive and working for them._

I tried to sleep, but all of those thoughts kept tormenting me. Meloetta came back and I thanked her for putting them to sleep with her Relic Song, and explained I just couldn't sleep. Meloetta had gotten this many times, and was content with not sleeping. The others didn't know she existed, so I told her she could sleep during the day.

I looked over at Serena and Bonnie and Korrina, and Clement. I wondered if he and Korrina were in a relationship, but concluded that they weren't each other's type. Clement was too witty and funny and smart, and Korrina was all serious and stuff.

I also noticed Bonnie was equally close to Serena and Clement, and must have thought Serena a sister to her. Serena had one arm around Bonnie, and one hand on her blue ribbon. That ribbon must be special to her, I thought.

Finally, at one thirty, I drifted off to a sleep filled with purple, evil Vulpix.

(๑● ․̫ ●๑)

I have decided that Clement is the weirdest sleeper ever. I woke up and he had managed to wriggle out of my arms and sleep with his legs propped up on a tree. In a sleeping bag. Forty feet away (at least). I woke up and couldn't feel his fuzzy puffball on the end of his nightcap, or any of him at all. I blearily sat up and looked around, finally seeing a blue pile of sleeping bag with a blue-and-white striped nightcap peeking out. I grumbled, got out of my sleeping bag, and dragged him over next to me. I put my arm around him, and was about to drift off to sleep again when I heard the new girl, Reina, mumbling something in her sleep. I paused, and heard he more clearly now that I wasn't shifting around, trying to get comfortable.

"Mmmzzgz . . . serv bezt as I can, dim suuuuun . . . catch 'em all, evvn . . . Bonnnnnei and Serena . . . keep them captivvv . . . mrrglvzs . . ."

 _What is she talking about?_ I wondered. _Serve Team Dim Sun? Catch 'em all, even Bonnie and Serena? Keep us captive?_ I contemplated this while idly twirling Clement's nightcap around my finger. Suddenly, as I saw a ray of the sun creep its way over the high mountain peaks, bathing the tops forest around us in light, a thought dawned on me. _Is she working for Team Dim Sun? I weighed the probability and the possibilities of this. Wellllll . . ._ I put on my best detective voice and realized I was talking to myself in my head. _No matter,_ I thought in the thickest, most English accent I could muster. _The facts are, Team Dim Sun's logo, now that I think about it, is a purple Vulpix with it's tail on its face. I twirled my imaginary mustache. And, she's shifty. Most accounts of her talking involve her stuttering. And Serena was only there for a few hours, not a day. I deduce I should keep an eye on her._

I waited there for a pretty long time, and finally I could hear Serena and Bonnie whispering in their tent. I gave Clemont a peck on the cheek and went over to join them. I unzipped the tongue of their Shellder tent and tiptoed in. "Whatcha talkin' about?" I lazily asked.

"Serena's telling me about her Master Class Performance in Hoenn," Bonnie cheerily replied. "She had fountains of fire and stars and a rock and a bubble and-"

"Do you want to hear it from the beginning?" Serena interrupted.

"Why not?" I replied. Needing no further reply, Serena launched into her story.

"The deafening cheer, the bright lights, all of it made me nervous. I knew our performance by heart, and I knew I would win. It was the 50th year since its start in Hoenn, so the Master Class Performance this year would be outside and it would only allow three Pokémon per Performance. I had trained the last week as hard as I could, since I had to win this after not getting the Kalos Queen title. Finally, it was my turn.

"I walked up to the stage, and they told me to start.

"'Braixen, use Ember!' A single, pulsing ember shot up high into the judges weren't impressed. But, that's what I was planning on.

"'Sylveon, use Swift!' Sylveon shot a fountain of stars up, shooting the Ember even higher. One judge looked at me with skepticism.

"'You guys know what to do now!' I shouted. 'Go!'

"Sylveon used Protect under Pancham to create a floating disk and Braixen used Flamethrower to boost it high into the sky. Right at the peak, Pancham used an expertly-timed Arm Thrust to shoot the Ember into the sky once again. As Pancham fell, everyone was focused on him falling from an enormous height. It gave the perfect distraction for what happened next. Braixen used a quiet Fire Blast and Sylveon trapped it in a sphere of Protect just after she threw a little gunpowder in. I held my breath as I watched, since it was the only dangerous part. As Pancham neared the ground, the Protect exploded in a rush of smoke. As the dust cleared, there was a ring of rising pillars of stone, with Braixen and Panchem (who was using Stone Edge) in the middle. Each of the pillars had a Sylveon, and all were getting Fairy Wind ready. Finally, all of the Sylveons unleashed a torrent of Fairy Wind, and the stones retracted into the ground.

"Now, you need a little bit of backstory for this to make sense. A few days before the performance, we were practicing our routine when I noticed Pancham's Arm Thrust was making a small spotlight in the night, illuminating the Ember in the night sky. I had the genius idea to use it at the end for something that would create a spectacular effect.

"Back to the story. The Ember, high in the sky, was falling, illuminated by Pancham's Arm Thrust. It fell for what seemed like an eternity but was really a few seconds. Finally, Braixen caught it in her hand, and the crowd watched it pulse and die out, turning to ashes. Then, the crowd erupted in cheers. I got a perfect score of 30."

I looked at Serena in shock. "And you made all of this in-"

"Two weeks. Yep, and it was awesome."

"But-" Bonnie interrupted. "Did you win?"

"No. A boy named Cilan with green hair beat me by two tenths of a point. I was really frustrated, but tried not to show it. Cilan came up and told me that I needed to study the biology of my Pokémon to control it better. He reminded me of Clement."

"Who reminded you of me?" Clement peeked in and walked over to sit between Bonnie and me.

"This guy named Cilan." Clement's face lit up.

"Cilan, with green hair? Likes science?" Clement seemed to know this Cilan well. "We were just fishing together right after Ash left. Remember him, Bonnie?"

"He had the lure that looked like him, right?"

"Yep, that's him!" Clement replied.

"You know what," Serena thought, "I heard him say something about my fighting strategy being like Ash's, and I thought I was hearing things. But do you think he was friends with Ash?"

Everyone thought for a few seconds. That would be cool, but the chances are so slim they could be used as a needle to sow up the rip on Clement's nightshirt. But I probably wouldn't use it to do that.

"I sincerely doubt it," Bonnie said. "I mean, what are the odds?"

We were joking around after that, when Rebecca burst in, all wild eyed.

"Why didn't anyone wake me up?" She looked around warily. "I need my breakfast, or someone will pay … "

Everyone burst out laughing again, including Rebecca. _Maybe she isn't so bad after all,_ I thought.

Once we all quieted down, Rebecca said that we reminded her of some friends she used to have in Striaton City, Hoenn before she moved here, three brothers who went by Cress, Chili, and Cilan.

"Wait…" Bonnie questioned. "Cilan? We were just talking about him."

"Yeah, I didn't see him much after he met some guy, Dust . . . or Ash. Yeah, it was Ash Ketchup. Anyways-"

"You're telling me," Clemont incredulously said, "that you knew Ash Ketchum?"

"Yeah! That's him. Wait-"

"No time to explain," Bonnie said. "We need you to call him and tell him Ash is in trouble. Now."

Rebecca got out her Pokégear skeptically and called Cilan.

"Yeah, hey Cilan. I'm Rebecca, your friend from Striaton City. Well, I have some friends in Almia- No, not Alola. Almia. , a sciency guy like you might know. Anyways, they tell me to tell you Ash is in trouble. Oh! Really? My friends" she glared at us "didn't tell me that. Well, we're not too far from the soulth Almia Airport. Yeah, we're off of School Road, traveling north. We'll see you when you get here."

"Well," she told us, "I did not know Cilan knew you guys. You have a lot of explaining to do when he gets here."

* * *

Cilan? Yes, Cilan is gonna be in this. Until next time!


	4. Cilan's Betrayal

Thanks to a certain Anonymous Person, I added these names whenever the POV changes. Also, I will have a chapter out about every two weeks from now on.

I don't own Pokémon. Fun-fact: Nintendo didn't initially know Mew was programmed into Pokémon Red and Green.

* * *

 _Cilan_

 _This plane could be a little better,_ I evaluated. _Even so, the service is excellent._ With Pansage next to me, we flew over the ocean to Almia. I had heard from my old friend Rebecca that Ash was trapped, and instantly got on a plane there. But, I wasn't so sure now. _Ash? Trapped?! If I evaluated it correctly, there isn't a high chance of that happening. And the call could be from anyone, so Ash might not actually be trapped. Like a prank call or something. He might not even be in Almia!_

I thought about it some more, and then facepalmed. _How could I be so stupid! I should just call Rebecca again to confirm!_

I pulled out my Pokégear and dialed her. _I really need to get a new phone,_ I thought, noticing a boy with pinkish orange hair across from me watching the Dim Sun introductory video on his Pokégear.

 _BEEEEEEEE BEEEEEEEE BEEEEtzztztztz_ I sighed, hearing my phone emit static, hung up and dialed again. Finally, on that fourth ring, she answered.

"Hello, this is Infiltrator speaking. Hey, Evaluator!"

"It's _sir_ to you. I outrank you. And how exactly do I know Ash is in trouble? Do you have proof?" I replied.

I heard muffled talking in the background, then a different girl speaking. "Ash is a friend of mine, and he recently sent me a text with a timer. He doesn't even know how to get a capital letter, let alone how to insert a timer! Someone hijacked his phone, texted a timer on his execution, and even texted a picture of him and Pikachu in a cage! And you are telling me you need proof!?"

I looked at the phone, amused. _Well, if you told me that I wouldn't have needed proof, now would I have?_ "Thanks for clarifying," I replied, "and what's your name?" More muffled talking. _Does she need to discuss what her name is? Not that I actually need Serena's name._

"Hi." _Another person. Is there a party there now?_ "I'm Bonnie, and the person you were talking to is Serena." More indistinguishable talking, sounding like 'puddid on beaker phone'. "I'm Clemont," another voice said. "And I'm Korrina." Yet another person.

"And exactly how many of there are you?" I was genuinely curious at this point. "Including Pokémon." I waited for a bit, and the answer came by the little girl, who, if I remember correctly, was Bonnie. "Whoah! Really? We have _eighteen_ people here! And Pokémon,"

My jaw dropped open in shock. _How the Yveltal did they manage to have seventeen in their group?_ I sighed and looked over at Pansage. "How did that happen?" Pansage, not knowing in the least what just happened, only shrugged and replied, "Sage."

(๑● ․̫ ●๑)

"Welcome to Almia, enjoy your stay," the flight attendant warmly said. We got off of the plane, grabbed our luggage and practically flew to School Road. I arrived on the bridge leading to a Ranger Academy and looked around. I looked past the water around me and saw an endless forest. I peered into its depths and saw a huge Shellder and a dome next to it in a forest. _Wait a minute…_ I peered at the huge Shellder. I examined it, and decided to see it up close. I went back to the beginning of the road and walked towards it and away from the airport.

 _That's no Shellder,_ I concluded. _That's a tent!_ I ran to it and found all seventeen of them waiting there.

"There he is!" Bonnie yelled excitedly. I reviewed my briefing. _Clemont is her big brother, and she loves Pokémon. Is an underage Trainer. Her and Serena are close, almost like sisters._

I smiled, and ran up to them. Specifically, to Rebecca. We hugged, and I quietly inquired about her case. "Anata wa keikaku o tatete imasu ka? Karera no jakuten nado o mitsukeru?"

"Hai," she whispered, and we pulled apart.

"Hey, long time no see!" Rebecca greeted me, and introduced me to everyone else, I knew it was just an act, but we had to make it seem like I had never met them. "This is Clemont," she started, "and this is Korrina, his girlfriend." They both blushed at that. "They're both fifteen." She moved on. "This is Bonnie, Clemont's nine-year-old sister, and Serena, who's sixteen." Of course, I knew all of this, including the fact that Bonnie would be ten in four weeks, making her perfect to get the elusive and well-protected Kanto region Pokémon, and those were one of the last Pokémon Dim Sun needed to control before getting all of the Pokémon they needed. _Hmm… I don't remember Serena having a big golden ring usually holding her hair back._

"So," I started, "Ash is in trouble? How can I help?" As I finished my sentence, Clemont's glasses gleamed. _That means he'll present one of his good ideas, and it will have a 89.6% chance of exploding._ I sighed inwardly. _Huh, I did it again, using symbols in my head again. When did that start?_

I turned my attention to Clemont, who had a map of Almia spread out on a floating slab. _Not floating,_ I concluded and mentally ran over Clemont's file, _but being held up by his Aipom Arm backpack._

"This is Almia," Clemont began, "and I have marked all of the places we should start looking for Ash. In the text, Dim Sun revealed Ash was being kept underground, and I marked all of the underground entrances on this map." He had marked Marine Cave, the caves in the north part of Vien Forest, Crysta Cave, and had circled all of the Chroma Highlands. "I suggest we start on a path like this," he said, and drew a line connecting Marine Cave to the caves in Vien Forest to Crysta Cave to Chroma, trying to stay on paths and in towns as much as possible, so to gather as much information as possible. _Nice try, but you're totally off. Unfortunately, you won't even get as far as Marine Cave, let alone the hidden door behind the waterfall in Vien Forest. Once you get to Vien Town, you're as good as gone._

(๑● ․̫ ●๑)

 _Rebecca_

 _Should I risk it?_ I thought. _Telling them Cilan's a member of Team Dim Sun, the group that they're trying to defeat, won't do much except have Dim Sun revealed to Almia and four certain friends of mine to disappear. Forever._ I sighed, and looked at Clemont's map. _Gengar! If they pass through Vien town, Dim Sun will have them for sure!_ "Hey," I suggested, "why don't we skip Marine Cave, since it's recently… had a high amount of methane in it. Don't want to die down there!" _Real smooth, Rebecca, reeaal smooth._ Cilan shot me a look like I had just redefined the word _crazy_ with my stupidity.

"Oh!" Cilan exclaimed. "I just remembered I had a present to give Rebecca when I got here! Rebecca, follow me!" _Nooooo…_ Cilan was going to ask me why the Yvetal I had purposely led them away from Vien Town, and he had had a real knack for exacting revenge, one of the odd quirks about him. And he would punish me even more if I didn't do exactly what he said right now, since he was about four ranks above me in Dim Sun. I had no choice but to follow.

"Rebecca!" He hissed once we were out of earshot of the others. "What are you thinking?! This is the perfect chance to get them, completing the Kalos Pokedex! You better go out there and tell them that there is no methane in that cave, and that you were thinking of somewhere else! Oh, and make sure you keep making those E-boxes. And load them with nets or smoke bombs."

 _Oh, hallelujah. No punishment._ "And for your punishment," _spoke too soon!_ "do you remember the E-boxes you are making?" _Well, I better start making them, since I'm not…_ "Make double each night."

I started crying inside. _He can't be that cruel, keeping me up practically all night making those stupid boxes. But, something worse would probably happen to me if I didn't._ I sulked, "Fine." Cilan was obviously satisfied. "Aren't we still friends, through?" _More importantly, where's the Cilan I remember?_ He turned away. "No, you aren't the Infiltrator. You're just the Traitor. And I'm friends with the Infiltrator. If you can decide to be the Infiltrator again, I'll be friends with you. Otherwise, you're just another nobody I have to seduce." He turned away. _My life is falling apart,_ I realized. _I'm trying to lead a double life, but only succeeding in being a weirdo to both parties._ "Oh," Cilan sarcastically sneered, "and I forgot your present." He made air-quotes around that last word.

That was the last straw. I broke down sobbing and fell to the mulch-covered ground as Cilan walked away. I looked up at the canopy of trees, tears soaking my blond hair. _Why can't I do anything right?_ "I should come clean to everyone, shouldn't I, Meloetta," I said out loud. I looked around, expecting Meloetta to comfort me, but I instead saw Serena coming into the forest with a puzzled but comforting expression on her face.

"Rebecca, are you doing okay? And who's Meloetta?" I sobbed and turned away from her. "What happened between you and Cilan? Aren't you friends? And what was the present?"

I knew that responding would only cause both of us trouble, and I answered between sniffles, "I can't tell you. I'm so sorry. Just know that… if you get into a sticky and… and shocking situation involving me, … it's not what it looks like. I promise." _I guess I could show her Meloetta. She seems like the one to keep secrets. I think I can trust her, and having an ally like her might help me be protected from Dim Sun and Cilan. But I shouldn't show her now._ "Thanks anyways." I got up and walked back to camp, noticing my messy hair and tear-streaked face. I brushed out some of the leaves but didn't care that much about it.

Clement was the first to ask what the present was. I smoothly replied, "Oh, Cilan forgot it at home. I'm sure he'll _leave_ and give it to me _as soon as possible._ " I was mad at him, and hoped he noticed I wanted him to leave me alone. "I don't really care that much. What I do care about is where I'm gonna sleep tonight, since there's a high chance of rain tonight."

Soon, Serena and Bonnie were making room in their tent for me, and Clemont and Korrina were arguing about whether or not to have Cilan sleep in their tent. While I was moving my stuff into the Shellder tent, I heard Korrina finally give in and let Cilan sleep in their tent, as long as Cilan had his own things and slept as far away from them as possible. Once everyone got their things ready, Bonnie made dinner for us with Serena's guidance. For her first time, the casserole was great. I made sure to compliment her, and decided to confide in both of them tonight. _But only partly, since I don't know if Cilan is spying on me or not._

We got into our beds, and Bonnie gently let out her Amaura. "Hey guys, this is Amaura. She's really shy, but is friendly if you and I started not-so-secretly assembling the E-Boxes. Almost instantly, Bonnie asked, "What are those?"

 _Time for my spiel,_ I thought. "I'm making fireworks for the Wishing Bell Festival coming up. My grandmother's competing in it, since her Cinnicino, one of her only friends in her nursing home, has recently died. I tried to convince her out of it, but she said it was her duty." This was partly true, but she had asked a friend of hers to do it for her, since she has bad arthritis, instead of doing it herself.

"Oh, I'm so sorry. Do you need us to help?" Serena apologised. I felt kind of bad deceiving them like this, but it was one of the only ways I could accomplish what I wanted.

"No, thanks."I sadly replied. I made a few more, putting a bag of either dust or a compactable net into the boxes, connecting the wires inside to be able to receive signals from the finger-remotes on any Dim Sun grunt's uniform.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but how do those fireworks work? I haven't seen any like them."Serena questioned. "I mean, if you don't mind me asking," She hurriedly continued.

Serena thought I was an emotional mess, and by the look on Bonnie's face, I could tell Bonnie did as well. Good. I pulled out my fake sob and hoped Cilan wasn't watching. "Actually, they're not fireworks. Team Dim Sun forced me into working with them by holding my mom ransom and I don't even know if she's alive and - I just -" I broke down quietly sobbing. Now I was really giving myself a guilt trip, making them feel this way about me. The worst part about it was, it was partly true. I felt like a Bonsly, using Fake Tears to gain everyone's trust, but being sad all the same. For the second time today, Serena comforted me. "Cilan told me to make double of these E-Boxes, since I tried to keep you safe from the hidden Dim Sun members in Vien Town. But I can't make even half, not with my grandma's Cinnocino dead and me trying to keep my mom alive and I have to make these stupid E-Box-"

Thankfully, I was cut off by Bonnie. "Wait. You and Cilan are in Dim Sun?" she questioned. I looked up with a fake sniffle and nodded. I had meant to reveal him in front of everyone to get revenge on him, but this would work too. Bonnie then continued, "Do you want help?" she kindly asked, and I saw in her face that she was truly concerned for me. I was now mad at myself for doing this to them, but I sniffily replied, "Yeah. That would be great. Thanks, you two. I need two hundred."

A few minutes later, we were working on the E-Boxes, along with Bonnie's Amaura she got from the Fossil Lab back in Kalos. Bonnie had a genius idea to plug in the power cord to radio, so it would instantly overload and break, and then Amaura would plug all the cords into the right place to make it seem like there was no harm done. Bonnie did that, while Serena slipped in the bag and I closed it up, locking it with the Dim Sun password. We made 220 before we realized we made more than we needed, and none of us were tired, so we changed the unlock passwords to DIMSUNSUCKS so they couldn't open the E-Boxes to see what was wrong with them. Not that they would have the time to figure out we had destroyed the radio. Even by then, none of us were tired, but Serena insisted we went to sleep and quietly made us some chamomile tea. A few minutes later, I allowed Meloetta to come in, wrote a note not to go outside _yet_ and taped it to the tent door, and went to sleep.

(๑● ․̫ ●๑)

 _?_

It was cold outside, but I had made it. I had barely escaped, and Team Dim Sun was no doubt coming after me. I had an advantage, since I was pretty sure they wanted me alive. I was malnourished and scraped up from crawling through their air system, but full of adrenaline. My uniform didn't fit at all, but it provided good camouflage. I just hoped my daughter was alright, not having seen me for four years. It had seemed like it was only yesterday I saw her eleven-year-old self, playing with her beloved "Munchie".

I heard the sound of gunshots behind me, presumably to flush me out, but I now knew they would kill me if necessary. I had to get out of there, and fast. I mentally mapped out the area around me, and started running out of the forest towards Vien Town. I could hear armed grunts behind me, and tried to run faster. I tripped on a tree root, and they almost caught up to me before I got up. _Bang!_ My leg felt hot and wet, and I risked a look back to see that it was bleeding bad, having been shot through the muscle. A flash of pain shot through my leg. I gasped and tried to keep running, but I was shot in the shoulder twice and fell to the ground. _This is it,_ I thought.

(๑● ․̫ ●๑)

" _Mom," Rebecca asked me. I looked at the calendar in our house in Striaton City, and saw it was August 24, 2013. The day we left for Almia._

" _Yes," I replied. "Are you worried about going to Almia? I promise you'll have a great time there. I'm going to be training to be a Ranger for three years, and then we can go back home. I'm sure that all of your friends will still be here when you come back._ I noticed that, in my memory, I said 'you' instead of us. I thought I said us, but I could've been wrong. We then left the house and I woke up from my memory. Two shots were fired into my back, both hitting my heart. _Rebecca,_ I thought, _I love you._ I died.

* * *

Well, somebody died. See you next time!


	5. Complications and Surprises

**Well then!**

 **Sorry for making you guys wait SOOOOOOOO long for the next chapter... I kind of forgot about it from 6th grade... but, I have a surprise for you if you read to the end! Also sorry for the short chapter.**

The website glitched and didn't post somehow, so I'm posting it again for Alec. By the way, I am Ni. You will read about me in the next chapter.

 **I don't own Pokémon, but I may or may not have an anime made based on my stories...**

* * *

Korrina

I woke up in my tent, yawning and rolling over. My mouth tasted weird, and my hair was all mussed up at the edges. I must have forgotten to take my helmet off at night, and Clemont or someone else took it off this morning. I blearily opened my eyes a bit, and closed them again, seeing Clemont next to me. _He must have finally remembered to take off his glasses last night,_ I thought. I leaned over and kissed him.

 _That is not Clemont…_ I opened my eyes all the way.

"What the Muk!? What are you doing, Cilan!? You were supposed to stay over there!" I pointed at the far edge of the tent, where Clemont had been sleeping for what seemed like the whole night. I could tell because his feet were at the place where his head should've been. I rolled my eyes.

"Korrina," a sleepy Serena yell-whispered. "You're lucky Bonnie didn't wake up from that. Mind your language."

"Cilan decided to sleep with me last night! Don't tell me that isn't a reasonable excuse!"

"Oh." Serena was very awake now. "I guess I'll just have to explain your outburst to Bonnie."

Right on cue, Bonnie woke up. I could tell because after I launched off a stream of swear words that would have made any sailor proud, I heard her yawn from her tent.

"Korrina? Why are you saying that? And do you know where Rebecca is?"

I heard Serena and Bonnie discussing my vocabulary when Cilan interjected. "Korrina, why do you have to be mad? Didn't you like-"

"SHUT UP! SHUT THE MUK UP, YOU DIRTY SON OF A-"

Wait a minute. I probably shouldn't continue with this conversation, since this thing has a rating of PG. Sorry. Let's just say that I had a bad rampage filled with temper induced expletives.

Once I finally stopped, Cilan had agreed to "get out of my *** tent and get the *** away from this region" and then I made a promise to Serena not to use bad words in Bonnie's presence again. Clemont started working on a device that would track Cilan to make sure he wasn't sneaking into camp, and was working so hard on this you would think it would prevent Doomsday. It probably would, since Cilan coming into camp again might result in something equivalent to an atomic bomb from me. The rest of the day was pretty normal, except for the fact that the girls (besides me) were making a detailed plan to get into Dim Sun's lair, rescue Ash, and get the crap outta there. Clemont was in our tent and I couldn't even force him to stop working on his project, let alone spend any time with me.

I had nothing to do for what seemed like the rest of the day, and I decided to go exploring. Lucario suggested we follow the river we were camping next to, just to see where it went, and I agreed. I packed some granola bars for us, and we were off.

We were traveling along the edge of the river, southwest according to my compass. I basked in the sweet silence of the chittering wildlife around me. It seemed almost like the animals and the plants around us were providing a sweet, rustling undertone to our journey. Lucario started trying to use his Bone Rush as a walking stick. It worked surprisingly well, and he was soon getting the bone to grow in length to almost twice the size of him. By this time, I could see a small cliff growing closer to us as we traveled towards it. Lucario was pole vaulting from bank to bank, and each time I was a little worried he would fall in. I felt I should either stop him or join him, but the idyllic environment made me feel like everything would be okay. The birds were chirping, filling the air with a high, chirping melody. The burbling stream was the color of emeralds and lápiz lazuli. The trees sheltering me and Lucario cast a dark green shadow on the riverbanks, leaving us to be smiled on by the pale, sunny sky. I felt a little drowsy and felt the need to just take a nap. Lucario bounded over to me, and I realized this was the first time I had seen him in about thirty minutes. We laid down next to the rushing stream, and the sound of it lulled us to sleep. I felt a brief moment of terror, realizing I was acting way too calm and laid back for me. It quickly passed, and we fell asleep to the smell of…

 _Qualot cake?_

(๑● ․̫ ●๑)

Serena

I woke up in my cozy queen bed, and yawned. I felt happier than I had ever been, but couldn't figure out why for the life of me. Then I remembered. _Ash's birthday!_ I started to make plans about what I should do, when I remembered that Ash was stuck in a giant cage with Pikachu. _Wait! That happened three years ago._ I realized I had just woke up from a surprisingly long dream, remembering what happened in my adolescent years. I rolled over and gazed at Ash's face, willing him to wake up. Finally, I couldn't wait any longer and planted a kiss on his lips. He blearily woke up, confused, and I whispered to him, "Happy Birthday," and kissed him again. He held me tight, running his hands up and down my back as we kissed. I held him tight, wishing this moment would last forever.

What seemed like an eternity later, he let go. I, however, kept holding on. He looked at me with sad eyes, and I could tell that there was bad news lurking behind them. He sadly told me, almost in a whisper, "You know that this moment won't last, right? You can't hold me forever."

I looked up, confused, and asked why not. "This bed, this room, even me, it's all just a figment of your imagination. I have to go now."

The room and everything in it started to fade away, but suddenly came back into focus. Ash, still in bed, turned his head sharply. Then, he started yelling out, but it sounded like he was giving an order to someone.

"What the Muk!?" he began. I was thoroughly confused, and realized I was then in a sleeping bag. _It was all a dream,_ I sadly realized. The yelling came from Korrina, who was probably very mad. "What are you doing, Cilan!? You were supposed to stay over there!" I rolled my eyes, realizing that Korrina was probably making a fuss about nothing.

I yell-whispered, "Korrina. You're lucky that Bonnie didn't wake up from that. Mind your language," and then rolled over to try to back to sleep.

"Cilan decided to sleep with me last night! Don't tell me that isn't a reasonable excuse," she retorted.

 _Well then._ I was sitting straight up now, and realized that this was a serious offense. If someone was in my bed, I probably wouldn't be very nice, either. _Well,_ I thought, _unless it was Ash…_

"Oh. I guess I'll just have to explain your outburst to Bonnie." Korrina proceeded to enlarge my vocabulary with some very colorful words, and then Bonnie yawned awake.

"Korrina?" She started. "Why are you saying that? And do you know where Rebecca is?"

"Well," I began, "something really bad has happened to Korrina. Cilan… how do I put this… invaded her personal space last night." I heard Cilan try to explain himself, and then Korrina let off a huge outburst.

Korrina had an episode of rage, and I explained to Bonnie why Korrina was upset. It was surprisingly hard to explain it without getting into adult concepts. "Korrina didn't want Cilan to… do what he did last night, and Korrina gets very protective of her personal space at night. She-"

"SHUT UP! SHUT THE MUK UP, YOU DIRTY SON OF A-"

And that's where it went downhill. I just decided to cover Bonnie's ears until it was over. I hoped it wouldn't be a long time. Pretty soon, my mind started to wander. I started thinking about if Ash was here, would I sleep with him or with Rebecca and Bonnie if I had to choose? And what if I could choose whether or not to be trapped in the cage with Ash or out here, with my friends? I soon just started fantasizing about what I would do with Ash once he was out, even though I probably shouldn't have. I imagined him and me in all sorts of situations, and pretty soon I was daydreaming like there was no tomorrow.

"Serena?" I heard Bonnie from across the tent. I snapped back to the present and realized that Bonnie was on the other side of the tent, sitting next to Rebecca. _When had she gotten over there?_ I sighed. "How long have you been over there?"

Bonnie raised an eyebrow. "Are you worried about me hearing 'profanity'" she emphasized that word "from Korrina? You think I haven't heard any of that?" She launched into a monologue. "Before Clemont built ClemBot, he fought the challengers of his gym himself. Some imbeciles decide to express their displeasure by cursing. And I liked to watch his battles, so I could watch all of the different strategies of the challengers. Before Clemont knew it, I was using some of those words myself, not knowing they were crude and vile. He reprimanded me, and I stopped. Fortunately, I have only used bad words once or twice after that, and only on accident. I prefer sounding smart rather than sounding like a jerk."

 _Bonnie has a big vocabulary,_ I belatedly realized. I wondered why I had never noticed that before, but then dismissed it as nothing, just a little quirk, something I didn't know about Bonnie.

Bonnie interrupted my thoughts with a question. "Guess what?"

Sensing her enthusiasm, I replied, "What?" in a similar tone.

"Rebecca has a surprise for us!" She pointed to a note on the door of the tent, which said, 'I have a surprise for you. Don't let her out!'

"How did you know it was Rebecca?" I asked, since I didn't recognize the handwriting.

"Well, who else would have wrote it?" Bonnie replied, and she pointed to a sleeping Rebecca. "And besides, I think I know the surprise!" Bonnie quietly crawled over to Rebecca's cot, pushed aside her backpack, and uncovered a sleeping Pokémon. Wiping away my tears, I looked at it in confusion. It was a Meloetta! Her Minun and Plusle were sleeping beside it, and I shuddered at bad memories of them shocking my head. _I should ask her about that sometime,_ I thought.

"And what are you doing?" Rebecca asked from behind us, scaring the crap out of me.

"Umm…" I foolishly responded, grasping in vain for excuses.

"We were just looking for my toothbrush," Bonnie piped up. "I was playing with it yesterday and accidentally threw it over in you direction and I was going to check if it was on the other side of your cot but you were sleeping so I checked under it instead." She took a breath. "But we found your Pokémon instead. Do they not like being in their Pokéballs too?"

Rebecca was at a loss for words. It looked like one of her secrets had been spread wide for the world to see. Maybe one had been. She fumbled for words, and came up with a simple "yeah".

"And what's the surprise?" Bonnie asked innocently, as if she didn't know the answer.

Rebecca visibly brightened, going from stunned to excited in a moment. "Oh!" she exclaimed. "I have a really cool Pokémon to show you! But, you have to promise not to let anyone else know about it."

We readily agreed, and then Rebecca woke the Meloetta up.

Just then, my Pokédex gave off a little _bing!_ showing that someone had texted me.

 _Six days left…_

* * *

 **YAAAAAAAAY! Some Nintendo representative took an interest in my fan fiction, and said it has great potential! So, since he is in then the team that makes the anime and has a little experience drawing, he decided to turn it into an anime for me! Yaaay! So I'm going to travel to Utah(not that far away for me, and my family is taking a vacation there at the same time) today so he can make edits in real time as I'm watching it! I will keep you updated on this! Also, I would really appreciate any suggestions or typos you may find.**


	6. Chapter 6: Written by Ni

RetroGrape arrives

 _Finn-"_ Hey, Mr. Sekai!"

 _Me-_ "Please, call me Ni. How are you doing, RetroGrape?"

 _Finn-_ "You can call me Finn. By the way, thank you so much for sharing this anime with me! I honestly still can't believe it would be that noticed! My fanfiction, I mean."

 _Me-_ "Come see it." [I lead him to the theater downstairs]

[Once we are seated, I start it playing]

 _Finn-_ "Can Rebecca look more like [pulls out a Misty's Determination card by Ken Sugimori] this, but more… "

 _Me_ -[Mind Reader]"Like this?"[sketches Rebecca]

 _Finn-_ "Yeah, perfect!"

 _Me-_ [fixes the frames with Rebecca] "Hey, would you like to try seeing it in 3D? Nintendo gave me this experimental product for viewing their anime, but there are a few bugs in it. Would you like to try it?"

 _Finn-_ [mind blown]"Seriously?! Thank you so much! Absolutely!"

 _Me-_ [I go to the other room, summon a fake headset, bring it into the room]"Here you go!"[hands it to him]

 _Finn-_ [puts it on]"Whoa! This is so cool!"[looks around]How does it know where my hands and feet are?"[slowly fading out]

 _Me_ -"What do you mean?"[I know what he means, but he'll figure it out soon enough]

 _Finn-_ "Wait- how can I feel everything? What? This is so cool!"[completely fades out, I disappear headset]

 _Me-_ [to no one]"You created more than what they can handle, so you'll have to give them a little help."

I will be maintaining Finn's "fanfiction" for a little while, at least until he comes back out. If you know him personally, I will put in a doppelgänger so no one gets too worried. Bye for now!

-Ni


	7. Finn's Arrival

**Finn said to notify you if he hit any important milestones, so:**

 **Yaaaaay! Over 500 views! (I don't see why this is so special, but Finn said to "put it on the start please")**

 **I (Ni, the dude from the last chapter) will be chronicling Finn's fanfiction for him, since he is currently in his story helping his characters out with their problems he made for them. Please don't put your characters in impossible situations like this. Like actual impossible situations, not the ones you see in movies. Like hanging over instant death with actually no way to escape whatsoever.**

 **I do not own Pokémon. However, the Ditto currently impersonating Finn so no one gets suspicious over his absence is working for me.**

* * *

"Ni? Helloooo? What do I do?" I reached up to pull the headset off, trying to escape the forest air.

My hands hit my face.

I stood there, in shock, trying to comprehend what just happened. As far as I could tell, I did not have the VR headset on, but I could see the world around me.

 _Yes, Finn, you are in Almia._

HOLY CRIPPITY CRAP THERE IS A TALKING VOICE IN MY FACE

 _Finn, you are being recorded, so I would suggest you refrain from acting like an idiot._

STILL HOLY CRAP THERE IS A VOICE TALKING TO ME FROM ME

 _Finn, calm down._

CRAP NO WHAT HOW

 _Finn, I'm going to have to make you go unconscious. It's for your own good._

Somehow, nothing swallowed me, making it feel like I was being stripped of everything that made me me.

(๑● ․̫ ●๑)

"...waking up! Come see!"

I was laying down in some sort of makeshift bed, made of a small mattress and an incredibly soft pillow. I faintly remembered sort of appearing here, but nothing else. It was almost like my memories had been erased, leaving only my knowledge. For example, I could still remember how to do long division, but the memory of when I learned it had escaped me. It reminded me of a popular cliche in video games, where they started with amnesia or something to make character development easier or something. _Hey,_ I mentally yelled to whoever was controlling my life, if anyone. _Whatever lesson you're trying to teach me, get on with it so I can get my memories back._

 _Well,_ the person controlling my life responded, _first you have to help solve your people's problems._

I sat up, terrified. Looking up, I saw a blonde-haired kid and three girls, one of which looked like the blonde dude's sister. I looked around, seeing that my pillow was actually a Minccino, who was waking up. _Wait, I have a Minccino? How do I know what a Minccino is?_

 _What the crap is going on?_

One of the girls started talking to me, and I recognized her voice as the first thing I had heard when I woke up.

"Hey, are you okay?" She questioned in a calming voice. "My name's Rebecca. From what my Pokémon can tell, you were put into an artificial sleep by some drugs I've never seen before. What's your name?"

I was relieved that I wasn't being kidnapped or anything. "My name's…" I struggled to remember my name. "... I don't remember," I confessed, bewildered at why I couldn't recall my name.

"If I told you your name," Rebecca offered, "would you remember it?" I thought a moment, and then nodded. "Well, when I found you, you seemed to be repeating a lot of names, and one of them was probably yours. I got most of them on a video." She then proceeded to pull out a sleek, black rectangle I somehow knew was a cell phone. She started the video, but I could tell right away that the audio was poor, ant it would take some editing to correct it.

"Hey, could I just…" I reached for her phone, and she gave it over. I tweaked with the settings, getting the audio pretty clear in about thirty seconds.

With a bewildered look on her face, Rebecca stared at me. "How - what - I didn't know you could do that with any model of Pokégear! How?"

I frowned, confused. "What do you mean, Pokégear? I thought it was called a cell pho-" Suddenly, a wave of mental light hit me, almost like I was opening a door so somewhere.

 _Ten minutes was an agonizing amount of time to wait, at least for Serena who hadn't seen Ash for so long._

My fingers tapped the screen of the iPad as I wrote the second chapter. I was a little behind schedule, and I had to work fast if I wanted to get my chapter up in time.

 _Bonnie was, with amusement, watching Dedenne wrestling a stuffed_

Hmmmm. What's a cute Pokémon that could be for sale? I idly tapped the home button as I thought. "Finn! Come for dinner!" my mom suddenly yelled from downstairs. The shock from her voice jolted me, and I accidentally activated the button. As the screen zoomed out in a flash of rainbow, I had some inspiration. "Just a second!" I yelled back. I resumed typing.

 _Vivillion as Clemont and Korrina were sharing a footlong at Bellsprout's. As for Serena, she just anxiously waited at the gate, when she got a text from Ash on her digital Town Map which doubled as her Pokégear._

How long should I give them? I think that they could easily pull this off in a month… I chewed my fingernail. Two weeks would be a little harder but more intense… Eh, I'll give them a week. I could manage that, right?

 _6:19:53:24_

 _Surrender or watch him suffer._

I smiled, despite the trouble I had unknowingly gotten myself into. "Finn!" My mom yelled again, this time out of annoyance rather than just to get my attention. I turned off the iPad and ran downstairs.

I awoke from my haze to worried faces. "I just had a flashback thing from before I was knocked out. I do know that I was knocked out now, but not how The rest of the details are already really fuzzy to me, otherwise I would have told you all of them. Probably." This elicited a chuckle from Blonde Dude. "I also know that my name is Finn, but that's all I remember for sure."

"Okay, Finn! I'm gonna take you a tour of this place!" the blonde dude's supposed sister suddenly jumped, bringing me along with her, leaving my Minccino trailing behind. As Bonnie dragged me into the forest faster than you could say "What the crap are you doing, I just woke up from amnesia or something and I have like a really slight headache that doesn't bother me but I do not want to be dragged around by a nine year old so I'm gonna use it as an excuse," the campsite had disappeared from sight. We slowed to a sprint, and I was already was super out of breath. As I begged in vain to stop, I caught sight of some of the Pokémon here. In the forest, I saw some green and yellow blurs I presumed to be Weedles and Caterpies, and some brown logs I thought were Sudowoodo and Bonslys. Suddenly, I had another mental door opening light thing, and I fell face first into something leafy as I went unconscious.

 _Bonsly_

No, there will be no Bonslys in this story, Autocorrect.

 _Bonnie woke up with a start. She looked to her right, expecting to see Serena in her_

What color is Serena's sleeping bag? Oh right…

 _pink sleeping bag, but instead saw Serena in a red and gray airplane seat. She was confused, to say the least. Then, she remembered. They were on a plane to this Almia place to rescue Ash, and she felt a jolt_

Is jolt the right word? It was like an arrow of sadness, but not really. Let's see… pit of sadness, gap of sadness, hmmm. I think it should be a verb. I struggled to find the right word. I feel like there's the right word out there, I just can't remember it… Drop of sadness, poof of sadness- Pang! That's it!

 _pang of sadness. But, she thought, we're gonna save him. And hopefully Ash won't be as dense as to think of Serena as a friend this time, she added with humor._

Wait. That doesn't sound right. Let me fix that.

 _And hopefully Ash won't be as dense as to think of Serena as **just** a friend this time, she added with humor._

Hmm. Maybe not bold.

 _And hopefully Ash won't be as dense as to think of Serena as just a friend this time, she added with humor._

Yeah. There we go. That's good. Also, maybe I should make Bonnie really smart or something, since her brother is smart… That could work out…

I turned off the iPad once again after checking the time. 10:42. Close enough to nine, I thought.

I woke up as fast as I had fallen asleep - that is, not very fast. I had a migraine now, induced by me falling on a tree root, exhausted from the sprint Bonnie gave me, and especially by that weird flashback thing that kept happening.

"Finn!" Bonnie exclaimed, seeing I was awake. "Are you okay? You just fell over like you were paralyzed! What happened?"

"Long story short," I groaned, "I now know your name because I had another flashback thingy. All I remembered from it was your name and exactly how you felt, kind of confused and worried, when you woke up and saw Serena on the plane."

From the look on her face, I could tell she thought I was some sort of fortune teller. "And you know this because…?" she inquired, not wanting to believe it. I just shrugged.

"However," I went on, "knowing your nature, you are going to tell me something. Something that is either mischievous, daring, or funny, or all three. So: what is it?"

Bonnie looked like she had been hit with an Iron Tail, stunned and bewildered and shocked all at the same time. "I have a feeling you should get used to me doing things like this," I helpfully added.

She shook off her expression and went on. "Okay then. So all of us found out Ash was kidnapped like five days ago, and we went to go help him. And then we met Rebecca, and a Cilan came to help, but he was being rude and Korrina banished him. And, now that I think about it, they both have disappeared at the moment. Oh!" Bonnie's face lit up, sporting a Cheshire grin. "Also, do anything you can to tease Clemont about how he loves his inventions more than Korrina. He needs it; I noticed that they're getting a little distanced lately. They're dating," Bonnie added in a conspiratorial whisper, as if there was someone who was listening in on them. "Anyways, we need to get going." She started to help me up.

"Hey - who's Ash…" I tried to ask, as he and Clemont were the only names I didn't recognise, but I had the already-familiar feeling of a flashback wash over me…

I felt like a balloon. So much air inside, and I felt like if I consumed anymore, I would explode. I tried to keep it in, but I eventually broke.

"I ship it!" I yelled breaking the silence of my accelerated English class. Instantly, everyone turned to look at me, as if I would embarrass myself even more. I felt the familiar spider of a blush creep up my cheeks, latching onto me. I wished I could swat it away as easy as one, but alas I could not. "Sorry," I whispered, and everyone's gazes returned to whatever they were reading. It was the last day of the month, meaning I could spend the whole period reading. My English teacher, Ms. Aikens, found it an easy way to keep us entertained and out of her hair (which she had a lot, like seriously a lot of) and keeping us "learning". I personally loved i, especially since I had recently discovered fanfiction, and had, not a week later, decided I had found the best ship in the universe: AmourShipping.

Still blushing, I went back to reading.

"I ship it" were the first words out of my mouth when I had awoken. "Wait," I followed up, "What am I shipping?" Bonnie looked at me like I was a lunatic. "Oh." I recalled what I had been forced through a flashback. "Ash and Serena." Still in a dream-like state, I didn't consider the repercussions of this. Before I knew it, Bonnie had fling her arms around my shoulders.

"You are the best guy I have ever met!" she declared. "You have, without any prompting, shipped the best ship ever!" It was about then when I realised that we sounded like total dorks. "Okay, now let me show you something else." She grabbed my wrist, and before I knew it, we were running somewhere again. I was worried that my Minccino wouldn't be able to follow through the thick forest, but luckily she seemed too intent on brushing me off to let me get away. With two leaps, she landed on my head and started sweeping anything she could reach, taking care to avoid my eyes.

At last, Bonnie slowed down, and I instantly keeled over from exhaustion. Minccino gracefully hopped off. "Don't do that, silly," Bonnie reprimanded, "you're making it harder to breathe. Put your hands on your head, like this." Bonnie demonstrated what she was saying, although she wasn't out of breath or anything. I copied her.

"How do you run so fast?" I questioned, marveling at her speed.

"I don't know," she replied. "My brother said it happened on my fourth birthday, that I had gone from complacent to super excited about everything. He said it was like a switch had been flipped. Personally, I don't remember anything except for being bright and perky my whole life. I tell Clemont that he was the one who went from depressed to eccentric on my fourth birthday. It's like I was in a mirrored universe or something.

"So this place is pretty cool," Bonnie changed the subject, showing me the ocean to my left and a waterfall to my right. Minccino seemed to admire the beauty as well, and she hopped back on my head to see it better. I chuckled, thinking about how ridiculous I must look, with a Minccino perched on my head. "I found it last night, because I couldn't sleep. It was sooooo beautiful," Bonnie added.

"So," I said, with a hint of mock surprise in my voice. You did have something to tell me, and not just telling me 'things I need to know'." I sat down. "This place is beautiful." We sat in silence for a couple of minutes, just looking at the endless ocean. I wonder why I'm here, I thought. And where did I come from?

Eventually, Bonnie stood up. "You know, I distinctly remember having a fourth birthday party, then a fifth birthday party a year later, and then another fourth birthday party a year later. I don't know what happened. Clemont says it was probably a super long dream, 'because time is not relative in dreams' sort some other science stuff. But I'm pretty sure it wasn't a dream. That's why I tell myself that I'm eleven, instead of nine. I feel eleven, if that makes any difference. I just don't know. That second fourth birthday

party is when Clemont turned happy, and that's when he said I turned happy as well. I think that something bigger is happening with my life, but I don't know what it is. It is weird though."

"I believe you," I started. "Something weird is happening to my life, too, and I wouldn't be surprised if it relates to whatever is happening in yours."

We waited for a little longer, and then decided to go back to camp. The sun was setting, and I estimated we had spent five hours up in the forest. Bonnie, mistaking me for her brother, or maybe just a little frightened of the dark, took my hand. We walked back to the camp in silence amid the quiet sounds of the wild Pokémon. When we arrived, I realized how young me and Bonnie were compared to the rest of the team. It was probably six, and the sky was a beautiful orange-pink color. I was about to go to Clemont's tent, to see if I could share the tent with him when Bonnie's face lit up. "Hey!" she interjected. "You should help us save Ash! I mean, if you want to," Bonnie added, her face filled with anticipation.

I pretended to contemplate this, although I knew I would. Then, after building the suspense for a couple of seconds, I replied, "Sure."

The reaction from her was instantaneous. "Yaaay!" She ran up to me and tackled me for the second time that day, wrapping me in a hug. Shocked, I toppled over but welcomed the hug.

Brushing her self off and helping me up, she grabbed my hand and pulled me to her tent. She unzipped the door and saw Serena, Rebecca, and Clemont already working out some plans. "Hey, where's Korrina?" Bonnie asked.

"Um, we thought she was with you two…" Rebecca replied. "Hey, Serena and I will go look for her, and - what was your name again?"

"Finn," I helped.

"Okay. So you and Bonnie can work out some plans. They need to be done by tomorrow, at the latest." With that, Rebecca and Serena left the tent to go looking for their rollerblading friend.

"Okay," Bonnie started. "Let's get going." She pulled out the plans the older girls had made so far, and we started to pore over them, spitballing ideas. Soon enough, we had devised a way to safely get Ash out, but we had no idea what to expect once we got in. We had decided to prepare for anything possible.

(๑● ․̫ ●๑)

"So, they fell asleep planning." Rebecca grinned, looking at the plans the two had made.

"Maybe we could leave them? I do not feel like moving anyone. My legs are shot," Serena stated. Rebecca rolled her eyes goodnaturedly and pushed the two to the side, making room for herself and Serena. "Goodnight," Serena said, turning out the flashlight the two younger newfound friends had left on. For the first time since that fateful text had sent, all of the people in the tent had a peaceful sleep.

* * *

 **So, Finn is meshing great with this world so far. Honestly, I'm surprised. See you next chapter!**

 **-Ni**


	8. Preparations and Backstories

**Sorry for the long wait! I'll ahve another chapter out in about a month... maybe? Hopefully?**

 **Anyways, I hope you like it after my year-or-two hiatus!**

 **I don't own Pokémon.**

* * *

april fools.

hehe


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